Publicationshttp://sarwatch.org/publications
enMineral Governance Barometer - Southern Africahttp://sarwatch.org/research-reports/regional/mineral-governance-barometer-southern-africa
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>This report measures and compares SADC countries capacity and ability to manage the mining sector. Today’s governments are challenged with creating new approaches to governance that enable them to better exploit the developmental potential provided by mineral resources. Establishing regulatory frameworks and state capacity to ensure that activities of mining companies are compatible with efforts to promote inclusive and sustainable development are central to this challenge.</p>
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Wed, 15 Feb 2017 09:46:11 +0000luke632 at http://sarwatch.orgSouth African Banks Footprint in SADC Mining Projectshttp://sarwatch.org/research-reports/south-africa/south-african-banks-footprint-sadc-mining-projects
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>South African Banks are often key funders of a number of mining companies. Questions abound on the nature of these deals and the lack of transparency that surrounds them. There are concerns about whether banks do due diligence before they fund any mining activities to guide against corruption, social, environmental and human rights abuses that are linked to mining. This report interrogates the funding commitments of South African banks in mining in SADC and considers whether they can do things differently.</p>
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Wed, 15 Feb 2017 08:59:36 +0000luke631 at http://sarwatch.orgIllicit gold trade and the ARGOR case - Conference summary report http://sarwatch.org/conference-report/drc/illicit-gold-trade-and-argor-case-conference-summary-report
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>SARW organises a conference on the case known as Argor, a Swiss Gold rafiney. The Argor Case is a case in which it refined nearly three tons of Congolese gold between 2004 and 2005 without complying with the due diligence principle or wondering whether the gold was legally or illicitly traded. Argor was taken to the Swiss Confederation Court by international NGOs. After years of investigation, the case was dismissed in March 2015, as the Congolese State failed to appear as plaintiff. This case exposes regrettably the inability of the Congolese State to claim on time, even when the conditions are in its favour, its property rights over its own property that has been illegally traded.</p>
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Tue, 10 May 2016 14:44:50 +0000luke627 at http://sarwatch.orgMeasuring natural resourceshttp://sarwatch.org/resource-insights/regional/measuring-natural-resources
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<p>Hypotheses about the resource curse hold that nat­ural resources have distinctive properties that hin­der development. A measure of natural resources should capture these properties and make it possi­ble place countries on a continuum from resource-poor to resource-rich. Arguably what is most dis­tinctive about the resources in question is that they derive from “natural” endowments that, because of their scarcity, can typically be sold for prices that far exceed the costs of extracting them.</p></div></div></div></div><div class="form-item form-type-item">
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Mon, 06 Jul 2015 15:14:58 +0000Rod Alence561 at http://sarwatch.orgIntroductionhttp://sarwatch.org/resource-insights/regional/introduction
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Are sub-Saharan Africa’s abundant mineral and fuel resources undermining prospects for devel­opment in the region? An inﬂuential body of research asserts that natural resources curse the countries that possess them with a host of unde­sirable outcomes — from economic stagnation, to authoritarian rule, to violent conﬂict. Africa is no stranger to these maladies. With international commodity prices booming, its dependence on resource exports is unlikely to diminish anytime soon. Is Africa suffering from a resource curse?</p></div></div></div><div class="form-item form-type-item">
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Mon, 06 Jul 2015 15:07:09 +0000luke560 at http://sarwatch.orgWhere Did Africa’s Resource Curse Go?http://sarwatch.org/resource-insights/regional/where-did-africa%E2%80%99s-resource-curse-go
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Resource-rich countries are said to be more prone to negative outcomes ranging from slow economic growth, underinvestment in human capital, and environmental degradation to corruption, authoritarian rule, and violent conflict.</p>
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Mon, 06 Jul 2015 14:57:49 +0000Rod Alence559 at http://sarwatch.orgNande’s alternative economyhttp://sarwatch.org/research-reports/drc/nande%E2%80%99s-alternative-economy
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div>Due to their relative isolation and their poor integration into Belgian-Congolese colonial structures as well as their resistance to mass recruitment into the colonial industrial or military-security projects, the Nande had retained a degree of social and economic independence.22 They excelled early on as traders of salt and as diligent cultivators – even after the colonial authorities intruded with new cash crops, such as coffee and tea, and non-indigenous variations of grains and vegetables.</div></div></div></div><div class="form-item form-type-item">
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Mon, 20 Oct 2014 10:34:05 +0000Rico Carisch544 at http://sarwatch.orgArtisanal gold mining in a legal vacuumhttp://sarwatch.org/research-reports/drc/artisanal-gold-mining-legal-vacuum
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div>During these tumultuous times, the gold price on world markets suddenly soared. Until 1970, the price for one troy ounce of gold had held steady between US$30-40 (see Table 1) but then it started to rise dramatically, peaking at US$615 in 1980. This spike in value meant that anybody in a position to extract gold – legally or not – saw their income rise twenty-fold.</div>
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Mon, 20 Oct 2014 10:17:03 +0000Rico Carisch543 at http://sarwatch.orgCorruption and conflicthttp://sarwatch.org/research-reports/drc/corruption-and-conflict
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div>One of the Belgian legacies that the Congolese had to overcome was the lack of évolués,14 which resulted in a shortage of Congolese with professional training, managerial experience, higher-level financial skills and, most importantly, ownership of well-capitalised and sizeable businesses. Colonial monopolies imposed by the Belgians to maximize the profitability of their investments had barred Congolese from acquiring these skills. They had also reserved all exploration, exploitation and commercialiation of gold for non-Congolese.</div></div></div></div><div class="form-item form-type-item">
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Mon, 20 Oct 2014 10:11:42 +0000Rico Carisch542 at http://sarwatch.orgLack of transparent and accountable ownership of gold mining companieshttp://sarwatch.org/research-reports/drc/lack-transparent-and-accountable-ownership-gold-mining-companies
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><div>When the Congolese finally achieved independence in 1960, they may have gained a measure of political freedom, but economically the umbilical cord through which Belgium and Belgian investors had sucked the Congo dry for decades was not severed. It took another six years and very drastic measures by Mobutu to finally gain economic control over the major mining companies, including the gold mines at Kilo-Moto. Even then, whether ownership was truly unencumbered remains unclear and part of an opaque history.</div>
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Mon, 20 Oct 2014 10:07:55 +0000Rico Carisch541 at http://sarwatch.org